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Iapetus-class battleship
The Iapetus-class fast battleships were the design successors to the Mars class and the natural evolution of Alliance warship construction. The most modern and powerful capital ships of their type anywhere in the galaxy outside of the Consortium, they were only available in limited numbers (only ~100 built) through the Third War in Heaven due to their lengthy construction time and extraordinary cost- one Iapetus could cost as much as five Mars-class battleships. Design The Iapetus-class fast battleships were, in many respects, a complete departure from previous design philosophies in the Terran Alliance. Utilizing their newfound contact with the Consortium and the extragalactic Alparan Empire to bring the Alliance up to speed on hyperadvanced forms of power generation meant that fewer reactors could be used to produce the same or even greater power than they could before. This, coupled with rapid advances in sensor and weapons technology, led to the general mothballing of the last remnant of the second-generation fleet that had challenged the Ravasect; third-generation Alliance starships from here on out would be increasingly back-modified to accept these new technologies, upgrading as they became available to boost their capabilities far beyond what they had been prior to 2505. Broadly described as "Generation 3.5", the Iapetus type was almost too advanced for its time: it borrowed heavily from Consortium design practices and shared technology, boasting larger guns and equal firepower even to the Terra dreadnoughts which had been the heavy hitters of the fleet since the Razorbird Crusades. The hullform was more streamlined than previous starships - something that was found on contemporary Luna-class battlecruisers - but this would not be repeated due to the lack of ability to modify the surface structures. Their wedge-shaped hull was reminiscent of Nagato, but bore a characteristic Alliance flare with the smaller mirrored hull beneath the main body of the warship. The engine nacelles were located in the rear, in an 'asterisk' arrangement that promised some measure of survivability in the event of action damage. The Iapetus type also brought a new standard of power generation and sensor technology to the fore, to such an extent that the old models had to be abandoned and the system completely redone to deal with the remarkable changes. Armament The main armament of the Iapetus class was its eighteen 38cm laser cannons: the largest laser cannons to ever see service in the Alliance up to that point in time. With a fire control range approaching 30 light-minutes, the Iapetus type could easily dispatch any opponent near or far with impunity. The trump card of the class, however, was the 51cm PC-1 spinal mount boring laser: a massive cannon capable of tearing a battleship apart with one shot. The Iapetus, in keeping with Alliance doctrine, also mounted a formidable secondary armament: they boasted two Hyperion-class heavy cruisers' worth of firepower with their 20.3cm laser cannons, while their 15cm medium gun battery was equal to four Pasiphaë-class light cruisers- to say nothing of their 10.5cm guns, which constituted a whole flotilla of point-defense frigates. This heavy firepower came at the expense of their light 2cm laser cannons, and a general downward trend in the number of 5cm laser blasters and the effectiveness of their Aegis laser network. While this was offset by the fact that the Iapetus class never had to operate without escorts bristling with anti-starfighter defenses, the design never really caught on- the Neptune class, which followed them, would focus more on improving the Mars hull and mating it to the Iapetus's big-gun firepower. History Early Service Third War in Heaven Service Decommissioning Notable ships in class * Iapetus (BB-1600) * Resolute (BB-1637) * Revenge (BB-1666) * Chimaera (BB-1701) * Relentless (BB-1999) Subclasses * Minerva (BB-1776) * Euryale (BB-1969) Category:Starships Category:Starship classes Category:Star Dreadnoughts Category:Terran Alliance Category:Alliance Starships Category:Battleships